Images will Dominate - Paul Johns & Mark Braunias

THE GAIL MANIFESTO PAUL JOHNS: Yoko Ono is in the Sydney Biennial. MARK BRAUNIAS: She helped break up The Beatles. Bad.

PJ TXT: It's all good. I don't like this expression. It's like saying... Jesus Loves You.

MB TXT: Maybe it's all O no. I like the glasses she wears best. Big, stupid and very Patty Hearst. Almost Elton John.

PJ TXT: Do any of the projections superimpose your paintings?

MB TXT: Have a wall with an animation projected. Hand-ptged around it and a bit on. Maybe just project on its own next time.

PJ TXT: You have designed so many great figures. I especially like the amoeba-like figures.

MB TXT: Thanks. 2 me they are like a species that didn't quite make it. Went down the wrong evolutionary path and perished. Cro-Mang(a)s'. 4 a brief moment I felt inspired.

PJ TXT: Your show at Jonathon's influenced my work in 2005. Plywood became a popular medium for some. I intend 2 add the black cigarette packet to your PR painting. Do you think the packet needs to be painted?

MB TXT: Definitely black. I did it one day in the gallery as I was hanging. 4 a brief moment I felt inspired.

PJ TXT: It would be interesting to not paint it.

MB TXT: Unplugged version.

PJ TXT: Have you thought any more about Threaded?

MB TXT: Its happening now. Should be organic. All subject matter is equal. Gail from Coro a must. Gail is like a guru 2 me. She is OMG.

PJ TXT: The Gail Manifesto. It would be good to include images. What do you think?

MB TXT: Images will dominate.

MB TXT: Gail reminds me a bit of the art writer John Hurrell. Both very windy

PJ TXT: Have you thought any more about doing a drawing of Peter Ireland? John thinks Peter is an excellent writer. I do too.

MB TXT: Maybe use same drawing. Change names. Both guru-ish looking.

PJ TXT: You would like Wayne Anderson on a Friday night. Repeat.

MB TXT: Wayne Anderson gr8. Sidekick gd 2.

PJ TXT: Orlando. Does he care... or know... that he is a comic? Wayne reminds me of Toby Withers... a character from Janet Frame's 'At the Edge of the Alphabet'.

MB TXT: Droll downbeat on the up. Classic anti-heroes.

PJ TXT: In the care home at the moment. One woman has a Rita Angus watercolour in her room. Proteas.

MB TXT: Not an Angus fan but nice image of room and lady. Angus 2 uptight in that NZ way 4 me. Repressed. Maybe that is why she is so popular here.

PJ TXT: Another... a portrait of Tom Taylor by Bill Sutton.

MB TXT: I thought Taylor was a brillant teacher. First scary artist I had ever met. Wish I had that ptging.

PJ TXT: The woman has dementia. It could be a calendar for all she thinks.

MB TXT: That's even better. 4 concept not 4 her.

PJ TXT: You seem pleased with how your show has gone. It gives momentum. Art on the catwalk. I would rather watch catwalk fashion than many of the art shows I see.

MB TXT: I like the audience best in the catwalks. Maybe put art critics at art openings on chairs. With note pads. Scoring.

PJ TXT: Would the artist score the critic?

PJ TXT: I have dropped any humorous reference in my work. Title of show... All is well.

MB TXT: All is well sounds funny 2 me.

PJ TXT: It should be. I am using the swastika and its association with the elephant-headed figure Ganesha..the most revered figure in Hindu.

MB TXT: R those photos or screenprints or both?

PJ TXT: Large photographs and neon. NZ coastline in the background. Neon=red. Argon= blue. Bill Culbert has used argon for the artwork at the Convention Centre. The blue alludes to the Canterbury sky. I was really impressed when I first saw BC's work. A fluorescent tube penetrating a suitcase.

MB TXT: U r probably rite. But I would rather have lights on the ceiling. Sorry. My problem.

PJ TXT: Would you rather have a bicycle wheel on a cycle too?

MB TXT: Unless it was by Duchamp. Maybe sell at Webb's.

MB TXT: Is yr show all done?

PJ TXT: Almost. Hanging on Monday.

MB TXT: That image of the guy with a rope is excellent. Enigmatic, evocative, poetic, etc. Where do u find yr models?

PJ TXT: I have used the same person from 2002. He is Doris Lusk's grandson.

I met him when he was the kid next door to Doris.

MB TXT: U started on Threaded ideas?

PJ TXT: We can get carried way next week in a true Barbara Windsor style.

MB TXT: Barbara W went out with Eastend crooks. Gail from Coro and Barbs from Carry On. Like Gilbert and George in their own way.

PJ TXT: I last saw her in Eastenders.

MB TXT: Sad. She had given up by then. Like Elvis, early period best.

PJ TXT: Some greats have a sad demise. It seems to make them greater.

Do you think Gail will have a sad demise?

MB TXT: Gail is the new Angus. Forever pained.

I thought Elton John was great once. Honky cat LP.

PJ TXT: I never liked him.

MB TXT: Rock music is like art 2 me. Like all art it takes time to really understand it. I am constantly re-evaluating its importance to culture. To me, the early-70s Stones are like late Picasso. It's my academic research.

PJ TXT: Let it Bleed would have to be one of my all-time favourites.

MB TXT: Exile on Main Street.

PJ TXT: I have found the Olympics exceptional. China Gold.

MB TXT: Ribbon gym very arty. High jump very sexy.

PJ TXT: Ribbon gym. Soft core.

MB TXT: High jump more so.

PJ TXT: They are viewed naked.

MB TXT: Ancient Greek Olympics were naked

PJ TXT: High jump.

MB TXT: Yeah. It was a balls-up.

PJ TXT: Bar up.

MB TXT:: Jim AND Mary.

PJ TXT: JAM.

MB TXT: Strawberry jam 4ever.

PJ TXT: Jim and Mary Forever.

MB TXT: And a day. Amen.

PJ TXT: I won't photograph Tom's portrait.

MB TXT: What about the woman in the home?

PJ TXT: Taking a photograph of someone in a rest home requires family consent.

The mind consents, without thought, when demented. I recall Margaret Dawson was criticised when she photographed her uncle. Photographs...nudity... dementia. The Man from Uncle is a great series of photographs.

MB TXT: Their prob. Terrific title that.

PJ TXT: The large work above the staircase in the Student Union Building has disappeared. One of its features is an engraved portrait of Dame Ngaio Marsh. Do you remember it?

MB TXT: I vaguely remember that large work. Just that I hated the Student Union. Those same people are now in Govt. National.

PJ TXT: Ted Nia is someone I remember in '81 at the time of the tour. I doubt he is National. Rarotongan. Warren & Mahoney architecture looks good from the outside, and always cold and uncomfortable on the inside. The grey concrete block became their standard.

MB TXT: Bloody modernists.

PJ TXT: It is a myth that Dame Ngaio was gay.

MB TXT: What about William McAloon. He looked very gay on TV talking about Rita Angus. Those trousers. Those paintings. I hate them more than ever.

PJ TXT: I tried to get a glimpse of the trousers. Each time I looked he was cut at the waist. Were they moleskin?

MB TXT: Trou more Hallensteins.

PJ TXT: Not gay.

MB TXT: Maybe Hallensteins gay.

PJ TXT: I know what you mean. The person presenting an artist can be more interesting than the artist. William's glasses were in the time frame of the paintings.

MB TXT: Need to get this Threaded project finished in 2 days.

PJ TXT: Just sent you a text.

MB TXT: Must have read my mind.

PJ TXT: Intuition.

MB TXT: Nothing in mine. Mostly rust.

PJ TXT: Iron is good

MB TXT: Rust never sleeps.

PJ TXT: That's what Hotere told the National Gallery when they complained about the paint peeling off his work.

MB TXT: Maybe best thing he ever said.

PJ TXT: The Bank didn't think so. The Westpac design is Ralph's.

MB TXT: Guess he got last laugh... 2 bank.

PJ TXT: I am one week away from re-establishing Strawberry Fields. 20 wild strawberry plants and a plaque designed in 1990. Yoko Ono has expressed her gratitude.